Gobama!

Hey everyone! Great job electing Obama! I was lucky enough to be in the capital (Yaounde) for something else and got to witness the entire night on CNN with 20 other Americans. I celebrated by buying redbull knockoffs, fritos, beans and cheese. Yup, we found fritos! While we ate and drank we played trivial pursuit, talked about what we all had to do if McCain won (what I had to do is inappropriate for the blog, ill tell you if you ask and are not my parents or grandparents), and ran inside whenever cheers or boos erupted from the crowd watching tv (Obama or McCain respectively winning a state). When CNN finally called the election at about 3am (or was it 4? I don’t remember) dance parties began during commercial breaks, and we all hunkered down to listen to McCain and Obama's speeches. I dont know how people in the US were feeling but we were all inspired by Obama's speech. My eyes got a little watery..maybe some of it had to do with how tired I was. By the time it was over it was light outside and we went out for beans and beneits (not sure the spelling, but basically small oily doughnuts. you'd be surprised how good beans are for breakfast). People were on their way to work etc. and were all congratulating us on electing Obama. It was really nice to get OBAMA with a thumbs up rather than "le blanc" or any of the other names they have for us (the girls got Mdm. Obama which they much prefer to Mdm. Sarkozy). I have since returned to post and am in good spirits. I am almost at my six months left mark! The last six months have flown by I'm sure the next will do the same. There will be definite mixed feelings about leaving. Anyway hope everyones doing well, and again good job with the election.
Brad

Almost Dry Season!

Hello! Dear friends, family, strangers, all protocol respected…how are things (the usual Cameroonian introduction lists 5-10 special people who are in attendance before beginning). I shouldn’t even say it anymore but sorry for not writing enough, it's difficult to muster up the energy when I feel like I'm so far behind. It is 9p.m., my usual bedtime, and I am wired. I was expecting a call from the manager of a bike tour company in Paris, I am hoping to work there next summer (everyone should comment on how I would be a great tour guide in case he reads this). Alas, he was busy today and couldn’t call so I'm winding down the day with a blog and a lollipop. Time has started to fly and I'm worried it will be June before I know it. I'm not sure what I'm doing after Peace Corps. I know, Ill lay out my situation and you can all give me suggestions. Here is my deal: First, I know I don’t want to be a doctor or a lawyer. I know that whatever I want to do as a career will require more schooling but I'm not sure what that is and its difficult (but not impossible) to apply from here. I could choose something I might be interested in like International Relations but unlike the sciences (which I'm not so sure I'm meant for anymore) its not paid for which means more debt. My plan is to delay grad school at least another year so I can properly research programs. Meanwhile I'd like to travel more, preferably to France or China. I don’t know why China appeals to me, but I loved Paris when I was there and would like to improve my French. If anyone knows any way I can go there while not going into debt please let me know. As far as a career choice goes, I'd like to be able to travel and somewhat choose my own schedule. Being a consultant or working for a think tank both sound like things I would be interested in but I don’t know what exactly to do to get there. Any advice is appreciated. Anyway I still have 8 months to go, but since the only training group here longer than us is about to leave in December I'm feeling the pressure.

I am very excited for the next few months. I am finally feeling at home so much here it doesn’t feel like im anywhere anymore, I'm just here. I am enjoying teaching my classes, hanging with friends and my alone time. Every once in a while I get frustrated with my situation or bored but far less frequently than last year and not as badly. I also have some guaranteed good times coming up. I am going to Yaoundé in November and will be there on election night on which I don’t plan on sleeping. You guys aren’t letting Obama lose right? I was serious about not coming back if he does. John McCain is alright (actually he's right-center...oh! I almost deleted this it's corny I no but better than no joke no?) I won't be too upset however it turns out. In December I have IST (a week on the beach with a bunch of volunteers) then my dads coming in December. Toss a few other small events in there (searching for elephants??) and time will continue to fly till I leave. I'm thinking about building a sty and raising a pig to eat at my send-off party in May. The only problem is it's expensive. I may get a goat and some chickens instead. Anyone reading this is invited it's gonna be the biggest party my town has ever seen.

I am really struggling as far as blogging goes. I'm not sure what to write about anymore besides telling you guys I'm okay. If anyone wants to know anything, please leave it in a comment I will address it for sure. Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, I had a good birthday and I'm sorry I didn’t respond to everyone but I appreciated the thoughts. I will try to get to everyone in time. If I have ignored an email of yours please its not on purpose and send me an email "beep" (just tell me to email you back and say whats up). I'm going to do better starting…now. Until next time…

brad

Hey Look! I Updated!

I was just about to start typing a blog when the power went out. I thought for a second I just wasn’t meant to write yet but it came on a few minutes later. Sorry its been so long I know some of you have been waiting SINCE and some of you have probably given up on it and aren’t checking anymore. I had a busy summer where it was hard to get a computer and get to an internet café. I've also as always been in somewhat of a transition. At the beginning I could tell you about all the crazy and exciting things that were happening, as I was here longer those things still happened but I didn’t seem interesting enough to talk about, I wanted to talk more about more complex cultural issues and other things that would be difficult to appreciate were you not living here (I tried a bit). Now frankly theres nothing I really want to talk about, life has become pretty normal and it seems the purpose for the blog will just be to inform everyone how I'm doing and what I'm up to. Maybe itll be interesting anyhow.

I'm gonna start way back when when I went on vacation in Europe. Thanks to everyone there, I had a really good time. I put on over 10 lbs. and had some much needed R&R. It wasn’t as strange as I thought it would be going to a developed country, after a few hours I felt right back at home. I'm glad I didn’t go back to the US or I might have felt too at home. I could have transitioned back but it might have been more difficult. I dreaded getting on the plane to come back, but as it turned out coming back wasn't all that difficult. I remember coming back I only had about 8000cfa (16 dollars) in cash and I had to give my taxi driver to the bus station a bottle of wine to cover some of the taxi fare. Gotta love that you can do that. It was almost a relief to return to the pace of life here…its very hard to be late for something. I remember being in Italy rushing a shower when I was dead tired and I'd just had my camera stolen and I thought: "If I wasn’t in Florence with an appointment to see the statue of David I could just take a nap like I want to". Sounds ridiculous but I hadn’t felt that rushed/tired/obligated since I'd gone to post. After Europe I had mid-service where they test you for every possible disease you may have picked up. I was hoping I'd get something exotic sounding and easily curable but unfortunately all my tests were negative. I went back to post for a week where I met my new postmate who lives about 30 minutes from me. She is also a teacher at a high school. It has been nice to have an American somewhat closer than before…I usually don’t go a week without seeing her at least once. I traveled back with her to the training site to help with model school. If you don’t remember model school is the name of the summer classes the Peace Corps runs to prepare new teachers to teach. It was fun to see how far I've come in being used to the culture and especially in teaching. I think students have a very precise confidence detector. I enjoyed watching them cause trouble for the new teachers while I watched from the back. One time I caught eye contact with some kids talking and gave them the finger to lips "shhh" and he got his friends attention and said "Mr. Bradford said to be quiet" and they were quiet for a few minutes at least. Felt good. I enjoyed relaxing with other Americans and seeing a lot of people from my training group that came out to help. I didn’t get to travel as much as I wanted but I'll get to before I leave. After training I relaxed a bit and got ready for the school year. This year will be much better than last year. For one I know what I'm doing, know most of the teacher and how the school works. Second I got most of the classes I wanted, I'm teaching Form 1 and Form 3 Physics (Form 2 had 250 students. I took them last year and refused to do so again this year). Because another physics teacher came this year I have only those two classes for physics and I took a Form 4 maths class. (Did you know they say "maths" in british English? I'm not sure if they actually pronounce the s in Britain like they do here). My schedule is a little lighter than last year and I have Wednesdays and Fridays off. Its gonna be rough getting back to the real world, I know. On my days off I do chores, cook elaborate meals, etc. I still get bored but it is not as bad as last year. We got a new principal this year (old one retired) which I was very happy about because he was keeping the students in class from 730 all the way till 3, but I just found out yesterday hes been changed. Not sure why I've only been hearing rumours but I hope the new ones just as good. I'm trying to get my basketball court proposal in but I have to wait to have this new principal sign off on it. Lately people have been asking when I'm leaving and I feel bad saying at the end of this year. It seems too soon. It happens less often but sometimes it doesn’t seem soon enough. After hanging out with the PCVs leaving in December I've decided its not going to be easy at all to go back to the states. Those thoughts will have to wait for another time. Sorry again the update took so long, I'm not going to promise to update soon but now that I'm at post its definitely easier. Hope everyones good.

brad

I'm Alive

August 10, 2008 - Sorry its been 2 months since my last entry, I havent had easy access to internet and I've been busy what with Europe and then helping with training. Im just letting everyone know I am still here and doing better than ever...when I get back to post in September Ill make sure to fill everyone in on how my summer has gone. Hope you all are having a good summer.
Brad

One Year in Country

June 5, 2008 - Wow. It's been a long time. How have you been spending these few months? Greet everyone for me…might be what I would say here. Anyway it has been a while, I've been busy with things and like other volunteers told me it gets harder and harder to keep up a blog and generally keep in touch with people. I hope everyones well and all of that. We just closed the school Saturday so I'm officially done for a few months. I have a project I'm working on (when the proposal finally gets going Ill send an email asking for money) and I will be taking some well deserved vacation. If any family and friends are reading this and thinking "wow I wish I could visit Africa and look around a little"…you can! You have a free tour guide here who will take you into the jungle, visit pygmies, see the desert, climb the tallest mountain in west Africa, whatever you want to do. We will spend at least a few days relaxing on the black sand beaches of Limbe, having ice cold beers served to us and eating roasted fish coming straight out of the ocean. Remember, the weathers always nice here. You have to pay your flight (about 2000US) and take at least 2 weeks vacation, but once youre here the exchange rate is very nice. I've seen Europeans traveling here with their kids, I assure you its safe. My village would welcome you nicely...I guarentee it would be the most eye opening vacation you've ever taken and will change away you think about life. Anyway, something to think about.
I know I had a whole speech before about how I'd turned a new leaf and would start to blog more often about different topics and I still have the list, but honestly I've been traveling and doing school work and just haven’t had the motivation. Hopefully I'll have some over the summer, but again I will be busy. The new training group arrives Saturday. Yup, that means Ive been in Cameroon for 1 year. It went fast no? Ill be helping them with training in a few weeks when I get back from my mid-service vacation which also starts Saturday. Unfortunately Im flying out of the other city in Cameroon so I wont get to see the wide eyed newbies coming in. Im looking forward to going to Europe but Im a little frightened of being overwhelmed. When I went to Yaounde for a conference the traffic itself threw me a little, especially when I saw it from the top of the Hilton. I cant imagine Paris. Anyway Ill let you guys know how it goes.
Let me give you one cultural tidbit that is annoying me at the moment. Everyone, mostly those who have never met another American, asks you to bring them things when you travel. Just now when I was going to the market a girl in my class said "what are you going to keep for me at the market?" I said "I don’t know Ill see whats there.."(I usually try not to commit to anything) What I want to say is "I don’t even know your name, what am I supposed to buy something for every kid in the neighborhood every time I go to get some pineapples?" I restrain myself of course and its usually alright if I don’t get anything, but its even worse when you tell people youre going to Europe. People have asked for computers, dvd players, cell phones... Im going to have to get some small things I think but it’s a lot of pressure. I have to remember probably 15 people, Im supposed to be on vacation! Now these people are not trying to take advantage of me, its just part of the culture that if you're traveling you bring back something, I think its usually to show that you thought about them. Just shows you that even after a year there are things that youll never understand.
Okay now a more positive story about the culture…I've discovered a strength I have in the Cameroonian culture that I didn’t know was there: my dancing. Now all my college friends who are reading this are snickering a little and thinking of how they so often imitated my dancing by rolling their shoulders and bobbing their heads. Cameroon has changed me and it comes down to two things: the freedom to express yourself and mirror dancing. First, the freedom. You can do ANYTHING here and people will accept it as long as you move with the music. My favorite game is choosing the most ridiculous dancer on the floor and imitating them, preferably if your partner is doing it too. Lots of fun. Also its not strange for 2 or 3 men to dance together, in fact they dance more exuberantly if its all men. Freaked me out the first time a guy came over to dance with me but now I'm used to it, its fun. So now to mirror dancing. In most of the night clubs here they have mirrors lining all the walls so that you can watch yourself or your partner dance. I don’t know how strange it sounds anymore because its pretty standard here and Im gonna miss it. If a person doesn’t have a partner he (usually the girls wont dance without a partner or will be picked up quickly) will just stand about 4 ft from the mirror and dance, watching nothing but himself. It takes maybe 5 minutes to get used to seeing yourself, but after 10 you get really into it. I hope it starts in the US. Anyway these 2 things have given me the confidence to be a little more creative when I dance. When my school colleagues saw me dance at the school closing I got tons of compliments, even won a free beer from the social committee. We had another occasion Saturday night called a burn house, which is a first year birthday party for a child. I was asked to open the dance with a few others…was a lot of fun. Im worried Ill go back to the US and look ridiculous, but Ill deal with that when the time comes. Hope everyone has a good summer, Ill update hopefully sometime in July.

We had a little trouble round these parts

I wrote as the blog was happening, more for my benifit than yours, but here you go:

26/02/08 4:00pm - So, my last blog was about safety in Cameroon. This blog will be about the riots that have broken out in some of the major cities over the raised gas prices. Since the new year, gas and consequently almost every basic product…vegetables, rice, drinks, etc. have risen, totaling in my estimation about a 5% raise. Monday morning, taxi drivers in Douala (called the "financial capital" of Cameroon as opposed to the real capital, Yaounde) started protesting. Not unreasonable, but the protest involves throwing rocks at any cars carrying passengers for money. That turned into riots and looting, and pretty soon all transportation at least in the central area of the country stopped. Other cities followed, and at the moment several cities are still in the midst of the riots. I have been talking to volunteers in a few cities and Cameroonians around my town, and this is what Ive gathered so far:

The worst city right now is Douala…there have been burned cars, a burned gas station, and several deaths. Almost every other city in the W, NW, SW, Littoral, and Center provinces has incidents of rioting and most shops are closed. Dschang which is close to me has had trouble at least 2 places that I frequent regularly in town, and 1 person has died. As for me, my town is business as usual. There was school today, there will be tomorrow, people are in the market, drinking beers, eating fish. No one is worried because rioting couldn’t really happen in our town everyone knows everyone else. Still if this were America people would be glued to the tv screen, here people tell me theyre not worried because it happens every once in a while and it will be over soon. Im hoping so because its been 2 days and as one Cameroonian told me "people have to eat". That’s when normal people (nonrioters) will be out during the violence and bad things could happen. Ill be hanging out here. Im really not worried except if it were to turn worse and I was to be evacuated, I don’t know how I would do it with all the vehicles not running.

26/02/08 9:00pm - I have just gotten back from town and it was interesting. I watched the 730 news while eating poisson brase, baton de manioc and drinking a beer and the first story wasn’t even about the riots, it was about the Saudi Arabians meeting with Paul Biya….maybe important but not as important as the riots. The story about the riots told of few casualties, some burning cars. My friend next to me then told me that in the town they covered several gvt. buildings were burned and the brasseries (beer factories) were also burned. I don’t know how much of that is true because most of the buildings in the country are made of stone, but I think there was more to the story than they portrayed. At the very least all the Cameroonians were suspicious of the report which shows me the distrust they have for things run by the government. A report "just in" later in the broadcast showed clips from at least hours ago (it was still light outside) saying that the official strike would be ended tomorrow, but the Cameroonians around me said they thought the strike would go on longer, until the prices were lowered. We will have to see what happens tomorrow. Unfortunately for me although my mind is elsewhere I have classes tomorrow, and plan on going in without a lesson plan because I don’t have the patience to make one right now knowing I might be going home.

28/02/08 – 12:20am – I didn’t end up going into school at all yesterday, I really just couldn’t concentrate on teaching with so much going on. Today they were a little bit more serious than yesterday, but Im getting ahead of myself. The 27^th was supposed to be the breaking point, where it would either die down or get worse. In the morning I was hearing that there were a few cars traveling, and it sounded like it was getting better. Then I talked to a volunteer in Dschang who said it was a lot worse than yesterday, police were throwing tear gas and shooting rubber bullets and someone was killed. The bakery that I buy yogurt at when Im in town was torn apart, and the bar which I usually go to may or may not have been burned down. I heard similar stories from other places and I sent some phone credit to a few friends who couldn’t leave their houses to buy it. I took a nap in the afternoon and when I woke up heard Paul Biya was going to address the nation. My friend brought some of his friends over and we played ping pong, I cut a Romeo and Juileta in half and we smoked it…a nice way to forget about what was going on. I went to the internet to watch the president's speech. The Cameroonians laughed most of the time, and though I didn’t get most of the French it was translated in English (Everyone here is bilingual or trilingual, most are quadralingual) and said the translation was very bad). Basically he blamed people for playing politics and generally it seemed threatened the people more than anything. It was definitely a Tipping Point (I just read the new book titled that I should be an expert). The Cameroonians at the internet and at the bar where I enjoyed poisson brase for the 2^nd night in a row were immediately saying it wasn’t a good speech, and the next morning a few teachers confirmed. People didn’t like the presidents reaction to the riots, and if people who weren’t involved at all in the riots were thinking he was wrong to address it like that, I didn’t think the protesters would either. I didn’t hear as many bad stories today (one story about 2000 children being held hostage apparently made it on BBC) but mostly it was the tone that I was surprised at. The bars in town were unprecedently(word says its not a word but I disagree) empty tonight. No one was talking about anything other than the riots, some were saying its war, and no one was saying it should be over soon. I am now facing a real possibility of evacuation, in fact with the difficulty they would have evacuating us when there is no public transport I don’t see how they can risk stranding us out here if this gets better only to have another incident happen in a few months. Tomorrow or maybe after I finish this Im going to start seriously packing and choosing what to take and leave. It sucks that its so sudden, Im holding onto hope that I don’t have to leave but I don’t see another option. Im taking my camera into school tomorrow to take pictures with my students. I am just starting to get used to life here, Im either going to change programs entirely or go home, both of which will take serious adjustment I am not prepared for. More pressing, how am I going to get out of here? People are throwing rocks at all the cars passing and both towns with an airport are the worst to be in right now. Now that I face the prospect of leaving I feel like I haven’t been useful and I'm wishing I had started more things than I have, I'm not sure I've accomplished anything meaningful (not that I necessarily would have accomplished much but I haven’t even finished teaching a full year…).

a week or so later….That was the worst day. The day after I wrote that things calmed and cars were able to pass in most cities. There were rumors that the strikes would start again on Monday, so all the volunteers stayed in consolidation but it turned out that things were peaceful and everything went back to normal in the next few days. There are still rumors that the strike may start again but at least for now its fine. My feelings on the strikes are:

- Im very very glad its over, it was even exciting at first but then brought only stress

- I fear they will come back, since not much has changed as far as prices go

- I think most of the rioting was actually caused by people taking advantage of the situation, not the protestors themselves

- I feel safe here, I have heard that no matter how awful the protests get they take the weekends off to give people a chance to move, to buy rice and those things and get ready for the next week of staying inside. At least I will be able to stay in village until a weekend and then be evacuated.

18 March 2008 - Welp, that was fun, but as I said the riots are over and theres no looking like theyre coming back soon, but we don’t know. Life is usual, Im getting ready for summer break (theres not summer here, they just call it third term break). I found out a few days ago that Ill be helping with training, which is a relief because itll give me something to do for our 3 months off (besides travel around Europe which im also excited for…Ill be there in 3 months, it feels like no time). Right now time is flying. It seems like every day is two weeks later on the calendar than it should be. I've officially been in Cameroon 9 months now. Looking back on it it does seem like a long time that I've been here, but training was the longest I think. Post is flying by. The head of the focalari movement (Catholic mission in my town) died today. I really respect those people who came here when it was just starting out, deep into the bush without water, electricity, a mailing system. I feel like Im cheating when I hear people describe it. I said this before but they saved this village, the infant mortality rate was something ridiculous, over 90%. Most of the people in this tribe are alive because of the focalaris (I don’t know how to spell it Im sorry). Getting ready to submit my basketball court proposal, everyone get your checkbooks ready!

Brad

Im OK

Hey everyone,
There have been some strikes in Cameroon and the country got a little crazy, Ive written about it but wasnt able to post it today. Ill do that later in the week, just know that Im staying, and Im ok.
Brad